@sfer: very true – one thing I learned repeatedly in library school is that you need to listen to what the patron means, despite what they’re saying.

]]>By: sferhttp://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/05/28/reference-question-of-the-week-52211/#comment-2751
Tue, 31 May 2011 15:58:57 +0000http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2016#comment-2751… which goes to show that sometimes my husband’s theory (he’s also a librarian) is right: never trust patrons. They will CATEGORICALLY AFFIRM that they ARE 100% SURE that the author’s name is such and such, or the title such and such, or the publisher such and such, or the date such and such. No matter how sure they are, they might be making a mistake… and you might be losing your time just because you believe blindly on what they say. Dr. House is right: people lie all the time, even when they don’t know they are!!
]]>By: slihttp://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/05/28/reference-question-of-the-week-52211/#comment-2749
Mon, 30 May 2011 21:14:48 +0000http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2016#comment-2749wow, was the patron really THAT rude?
]]>By: Brian Herzoghttp://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/05/28/reference-question-of-the-week-52211/#comment-2742
Sun, 29 May 2011 01:25:44 +0000http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2016#comment-2742@Kniffler & @Brandy: I agree, and I’m actually a bit worried that this is going to turn into some personal challenge: how obscure of a phrase can I use and still find the right result? Hmm.

But I guess this is one drawback to Google Books and the idea of everything-online: the bigger the pool gets, the fewer unique phrases there will be – especially with all the historical texts, and the millions of modern articles and blog posts and tweets, etc. Maybe “statistically improbable phrases” is just a window we can enjoy right now, but which will be replaced with something else once the improbability of any given phrase levels out due to sheer volume.

]]>By: Brandy Stillmanhttp://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/05/28/reference-question-of-the-week-52211/#comment-2740
Sat, 28 May 2011 17:56:34 +0000http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2016#comment-2740Kniffler I agree. I got the idea from Amazon’s “statistically improbable phrases.” I have found many a song from the unique bits of lyrics, and caught several plagiarizers too.
]]>By: Knifflerhttp://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/2011/05/28/reference-question-of-the-week-52211/#comment-2738
Sat, 28 May 2011 15:48:33 +0000http://www.swissarmylibrarian.net/?p=2016#comment-2738If you have a sample of the text you’re looking for, searching for sample low-probability phrases is the best thing ever. It’s why the ability to do a full-text search is exponentially better than just a keyword search.

It’s especially useful for sourcing things where the thing they will be indexed by is the thing you’re trying to identify: mystery song lyrics, unsourced screenshots, unattributed quotations, etc.